The North Pact
"We were made for great things. Why else would we look to the stars, and somehow know deep within us, that we will one day be among them." - High Commander Talia Secer When we think of the Collective, we inevitably think of the Sovereign Union. The "Grand Empire" has grown so much in scope that it has almost entirely eclipsed the three empires that formed it. However we must not forget the important contributions these empires made to the Expanse, and to the Sovereign Union they would one day form. As so, it seems appropriate to begin with the state that would unify the collective and bring about a paradigm shift to effect the Expanse for centuries. HISTORY OF THE NORTH PACT The North Pact would come to be on a small planet called Shelter, in the Captinova system. Shelter is famous for housing the largest variety of sentient species in the Expanse. over 70% of the unique species of the Collective, including Fennec Foxes, Weasels, Badgers, Hyenas, Tigers and Panthers. It is also well known for it's 4 beautiful sister moons: Ester, Emma, Elbia and Erene. But as history has proven time and time again, with variety comes conflict. Shelter was riddled with hundreds of countries, all of which fought for power and wealth constantly (very similar to the Human's Earth). Before the Space Era took hold of Shelter, The North Pact was a coalition of 3 empires focused more towards peaceful progress than warmongering. Between BSE-37 and BSE-21, a era of widespread occupation and absorption between empires begin. It was here that the North Pact earned it's name. The coalition of 6 smaller countries inhabiting the northeastern hemisphere, the North Pact would become one of the 4 superpowers that would rise up at the conclusion of the decade. Uninterested in the insatiable greed that the rest of the planet seemed plagued by, the unified states got an early lead on scientific progression. While their neighbors fought over land claims, the North Pact successfully sent the first Shelter astronaut, Arjay Rani to the largest of Shelter's 4 moons, Ester. The North Pact would pioneer an early prototype of the Eterstein Drive, front the idea of Space and Time as one dimension, invent the planet's first Nuclear power plant, and began constructing plans to colonize the 4 sister moons long before the other empires even contemplated space travel. However, the North Pacts arrival into the Space Era would be halted when Kaladashi, the other superpower that was born from the era of war, began showing signs of intense aggression towards the North Pact. Seeing a very serious threat, the Pact joined with her friendly allies, the Entera Covenant, and reorganized its economy to military production, in a mad dash to match the strength of Kaladashi's expansive military. By BSE14, the two massive superpowers were at war. The details are too many to describe in this particular collection (Dr. Areas Morday has written a very in depth novel on the event, ''The Final Conflict. ''I highly suggest reading it), but after 6 years of constant and brutal conflict, the North Pact emerged victorious. However, Shelter and her inhabitants were heavily scarred by this final battle, in which millions had died and dozens of cities erased from the map. The Government decided to give the empire time to recuperate and rebuild. for the next 10 years The North Pact nursed its wounds while it's science division made plans to send a small crew to the nearest star system, Comma, a single eden planet, Echo, orbiting around a small white sun. Finally, SE1 dawned on Shelter, and the ''Recollection, ''the first interstellar vessel ever made by a Collective species leaves the atmosphere of Shelter to begin it's 3 year journey to Comma and her one lonely planet. A few days after the launch, a young and inspired new president was elected. Cameron Crane, the man who would unify the 3 Collective empires, and whose son would bring the Sovereign Union to glory. When ''Recollection ''successfully lands on Echo, Cameron quickly jumps on the opportunity, creating the Space Colonization Operation. From here the North Pact began it's expansion into space, colonizing over 13 planets. It will stay at this size until the Merge.